What it does
Applebot-Extended never appears in access logs. It has no HTTP user-agent string — it exists only as a robots.txt User-agent: token. The actual crawling happens under Apple's regular crawler user agents; this token controls whether the content those crawlers already fetch may be used for AI training.
Like Google-Extended: a robots.txt token controlling use of Applebot-crawled data for Apple foundation-model training. Does not fetch pages itself — do not expect it in logs.
Full UA: none exists — Applebot-Extended is a robots.txt-only token with no user-agent string; any log line carrying it is a spoofer.
How to verify a hit is really Applebot-Extended
Verification method (July 2026): n/a — robots.txt control token only
Nothing to verify: Applebot-Extended never generates traffic of its own, so there are no hits to attribute. Any log line carrying this token is a spoofer by definition.
Allow or block in robots.txt
Add the token to robots.txt — this is the only place Applebot-Extended does anything:
# Block Applebot-Extended site-wide
User-agent: Applebot-Extended
Disallow: /# Permit AI use of crawled content
User-agent: Applebot-Extended
Allow: /For the allow-search-block-training combined pattern (and the Allow-directive gotcha that silently kills carve-outs), see the robots.txt guide. robots.txt governs whether Applebot-Extended may fetch; llms.txt is the separate, curated map AI assistants read once allowed in.
Vendor documentation: https://support.apple.com/en-us/119829
The Apple family
Apple operates 2 distinct tokens in this roster, and they do not block each other: a robots.txt line for Applebot-Extended does nothing to its siblings — each needs its own User-agent: entry (the robots.txt guide has combined patterns).
| Token | Role | robots.txt |
|---|---|---|
| Applebot | AI search | honors robots.txt |
Frequently asked questions
What is Applebot-Extended?
Applebot-Extended is a robots.txt control token from Apple — it has no user agent and never appears in access logs; it controls AI-training use of content crawled by Apple's regular crawlers.
Does Applebot-Extended respect robots.txt?
Yes — Apple documents robots.txt compliance for Applebot-Extended (vendor docs reviewed July 2026).
How do I block Applebot-Extended?
Add 'User-agent: Applebot-Extended' followed by 'Disallow: /' to your robots.txt. Use the exact token — substring variants of other tokens will not match.
Related bots
Same vendor, then other training crawlers — the full directory profiles all 34.